The further adventures of the Technologically Challenged

Rain is not good for your computer.

Today the sun is finally shining after days of rain. Not just rain, but torrential downpours, really strong wind and cold cold cold temperatures!! Of course that hasn't stopped us from going out and walking around in it, just to see what the sights and the view look like in the rain. We have already determined that part of this trip requires a bit of insanity and I suppose this is demonstrating that once again. During a little break in the weather we went out to use the chat room and post our latest blog entry. On the way back however, the heavens opened up and down came the rain. We have been working on the photos on the laptop, composing the blog and then coming down here to post it all on the internet. It appears that the waterproof backpack that we bought at the Gap had not met a stormy day in Perugia and water did in fact seep into the backpack and therefore, into the laptop, therin. Which made the screen do all sorts of shivery things at which time we thought it prudent to turn it off and stared at each other in disbelief. What do we do now? All of our photos (except for the ones we had downloaded to an external drive) were on it! We have back up lists of the phone numbers and email addresses and the CDs with the applications but having to replace our laptop was not something we had planned on doing.

The Cell Phone (telefonini, in Italian)
We had purchased one before we left the U.S. that they promised would work in Italy. It took us a week to find out how to get service and decide which one to go for and ordered the SIM card (that actually is a little chip that provides the service you sign up for that goes into the phone) and went down to the little shop because we couldn't figure out how to even open the back of the darn thing. The very nice young man inserted the SIM for us and we excitedly went back to our apartment to make a call and niente! nothing! No service! We didn't know if it was the phone or the SIM or the old building and upon going back down the hill to the little shop and having them test it, we determined that it was the phone and not the SIM or our location in an ancient building with stone walls!

To make a long story short, we ended up just buying another phone. We have been finding our way around the bus system which so far has worked very well for us and found a shop that fixes Apple products where we left our laptop (miraculously it booted up and things seem to be there although the wet, spoiled appearance at the top of the left side of the screen was still there). They are going to look at it and see what they can do. Keep your fingers crossed!

The new phone works, we are happy to report. Now we need a nap after our exciting morning of finding our way around Perugia. At some point we are hoping to be able to just enjoy the city leisurely. But we are getting there. My Italian has been getting us by and helping us find our way and for that I am grateful.

Thanks for reading. It may be a few days before we can put photos up but bear with us and keep your fingers crossed that the laptop is easiy repaired and we are back in business!

Rosemary & Bob